


The Importance of Timing your Flying Leaps

by qwanderer



Series: Pardicer [3]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Ace!Parker, F/M, M/M, Multi, merging my 'verse with the S4/5 gap, sex mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 11:57:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8843968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qwanderer/pseuds/qwanderer
Summary: Hardison wants to be able to keep as few secrets from the team as possible, right now, but he really is flexible.
And it kind of serves Nate right, anyway.





	

**Author's Note:**

> whoops I wrote the whole fic from Eliot's perspective and then the summary decided to be from Hardison's

After the damn Dam Job, things were hot for them in the northeast, so Nate and Sophie immediately decided they were gonna lay low overseas for a while, or something, and pretty much split. Hardison and Parker wanted to stick close to Eliot for a little bit after his freak-out, and he let them. He kind of just wanted to sleep in Lucille for a few nights, and he didn't directly say it, but somehow they figured it out. Parker's place was the one probably the fewest people knew how to find, so she allowed Hardison to drive Lucille 3.0 right into her warehouse, where he could roll out a sleeping bag on the van floor and still hear the other two snoring from over on Parker's bed. 

The next couple of mornings, they spent sitting in a circle on the bed, eating cereal and chatting. They talked about jobs, about life. At one point Hardison fucked Eliot in Parker's bed, while Parker watched from where she sat cross-legged on her desk, with an intense, almost scientific curiosity. After that, she bleached her sheets, although it seemed like it was already just part of her routine. 

After a couple of days, though, they'd pretty much exhausted the amount of time they could spend together with only what they had with them in the warehouse and nothing really productive to do, and they all started making vague noises about moving on to the next thing. 

"So we're not gonna be running jobs for a little bit, I guess," Hardison said. "At least until things cool down. But when we do get the band back together, I'd like to tell Nate and Sophie something about what's going on here, because they're going to notice _something_ is going on, and, you know Nate, he will dig unless he thinks we're keeping him in the loop." 

"What's going on, like, what's going on with _us?_ Our _personal_ business?" 

"Yeah," Hardison sighed, "because you know Nate and Sophie are part of that. They're family, too." 

Eliot took a breath. "You're right," he said. He turned to Parker. "What do you think?" 

"Hardison?" 

Alec turned, eyebrows raised at how quiet the single word had been. "Yeah, baby?" 

"I don't care if you tell them what we are but first tell me what we are because I don't know, not exactly," Parker said, fiddling with the strings of her hoodie. 

"We're dating," Hardison told her. 

"Oh, that's cool." She continued to fiddle. 

"That's what I'm going to tell 'em, because that's a simple little word to put to it, but Parker." He stepped in front of her, put his hands on her arms gently. "You're my friend. You're my family. You're someone I want to spend time with, as much as you'll let me." He shot a glance to Eliot, then, too. "All that's true of you both, and I'm never gonna deny that. That's all stuff that Nate and Sophie already know. But in the world they live in, all that plus kissing sometimes, cuddling, sleeping in the same bed, that means dating. It's just a word to tell 'em that we like doing those things, too. So we can do those things around them, if we want." 

Parker smiled up at him, and over at Eliot. "Yeah," she said. "That sounds good." 

"Eliot?" Hardison asked, and they both turned towards him, hands twining together. 

Eliot crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at them, frowning. 

"I don't know," he said finally. "I just... I don't know." 

Hardison and Parker stood waiting for more, frozen for a moment, then Alec loosened his stance a little, leaning into Parker. "Okay, I get it, that's fine. That's totally cool. Second question: Is it cool if we tell them the two of us are dating, or do you want us to wait until you're ready? 'Cause you're part of this, a just as important part, and it matters how you want them to think of us." 

Eliot sniffed. He grimaced. "Pretty sure they already suspect about you two," he offered. "You've been pretty obvious already. Can't hurt to confirm it." 

"Okay," Hardison said, nodding. "Just so you know I'm not dating you _less_. This is all up to you." 

"Yeah, I know," Eliot said, looking at the floor. 

"Ooh," said Parker. "We have a third question for you, too. Don't we?" She looked at Hardison. 

"Shit, yeah, we do," Hardison agreed. 

"What's that?" Eliot asked, looking curiously at them again. 

"Do you want to join us on our world tour of all the most scenic rappelling and base-jumping sites?" Alec asked. 

Eliot peered at him. "You really want me there?" 

"Yeah, man? Why wouldn't I want another person there who appreciates our own little bag of crazy and how happy she always sounds to be fallin' from the sky?" 

Eliot thought about it. He thought hard. He really did want to come. 

But it was theirs, their thing. Among other reasons. 

"Listen, that all sounds... real nice, but also real tourist-y. You're probably gonna be in a lotta places where people know my face, and not in a good way like in Memphis or Belbridge. Someone might recognize me an' I don't wanna put you two in danger when you're meant to be having fun." 

"Well, we could do something else?" Parker offered, but she was too honest not to look put-out about it. 

Eliot shook his head. "Come on, I ain't gonna ruin your fun." 

Parker and Hardison shared a frowning look, they communicated via eyebrow for a moment, then Hardison turned back to him. "Seriously, Eliot, how do you wanna spend the time until the team meets back up? 'Cause we're with you, if you want us." 

"Well...." 

Somewhere about his person a cell phone rang. Not one of his Leverage ones. An older number. 

He read the name, and the brief text that came with it. He smiled. 

"Sorry, guys, duty calls. I gotta go save the world, but you two have fun." 

"Can we help?" Parker asked. 

"Don't worry, I'll have good help on this one. Good company, too. It's an old friend." 

Parker nodded, then paused, looking thoughtful. "Come back to us, okay, Eliot?" 

His smile softened as he looked at her worried face. "Yeah," he said, then wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her firmly. He pulled Hardison into their embrace, and pulled him down for the same treatment. "Yeah," he said, "I'll make sure of it." 

* * *

After the little get-together outside of Tehran, after coming to Portland and the damn _microbrewery_ Hardison had apparently just up and bought, after that first job back together as a team, the other two, true to their word, waited until they were alone to glomp him, and haul him onto their bed, between them. 

"This is fine with me," he told them, running his fingers through Parker's hair on one side and rubbing a thumb across Alec's hipbone on the other. "I like just bein' part of this sometimes. I like that you two are the space I come back to an' no one else has to know." 

"Are you ashamed of us?" Parker asked. 

"No!" Eliot answered. "No. An' I'm okay if you wanna tell Sophie. I know you like to be able to ask her about people stuff." 

"Not Nate?" Hardison asked. 

Eliot's mouth pressed together as he thought. "I wanna tell 'im myself," he told them. "In my own time. Which might not be for a while, but...." 

"That's totally okay," Hardison said. "I get it. It's still probably a little weird to you, being with the both of us. Tryin' to explain it when you're not quite sure yet yourself how it works... I can see how that's not the easiest." 

"Yeah, and Sophie has weird ideas about trying to be normal," said Parker. "I probably won't tell her. I don't need her for people stuff so much anymore when it's about you two." 

Hardison leaned down and pulled Eliot's mouth towards his, kissing with a quiet gusto that spoke more of generalized longing than of sex. "Take as long as you need." 

Eliot sighed contentedly, and allowed himself to sink into the safe, happy place that they were to him. He allowed himself to think of all they were to him. 

"You couldn't get me to jump off buildings with you," he mused, "so you bought me a gastropub?" 

"Feel like you're flying yet?" Parker whispered happily. 

Eliot laughed. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, this sure does feel like a hell of a flying leap." 

She giggled, and pressed kisses to both his cheeks. "You're welcome." 

"You're both fuckin' nuts," he told them fondly, then closed his eyes to doze.


End file.
